Cutting it (the hair)

[Dogmama]

Today is the day.

The past several months have seen my below shoulder length hair get very thin. Found out that my thyroid (T3) was very low and my estrogen was non-existent. I'm correcting both of those but the hair is still sad. For me at age 59, I just don't think long hair is attractive anymore. It's very straight and pulls down my face. Gravity is doing a nice job of that, thank you, I don't need help.

So - today is the day that I go short again. I say "again" because I've been growing it for the past five years. Previously, I always had short to super short (matchstick length) hair. My hair is naturally straight and very fine. Long hair does not hold any curl and just separates into long stringy strands.

I guess I'm just fishing for confirmation. I know that lots of women on this board have been where I'm at & love their short hair. It just seems like a rite of passage, somehow, to give up long hair at a certain age. I know some women my age can wear long hair but I see many others who really need to reconsider (like me.)

I'm rambling. I think I'll go ride my bike.

[Pax]

I'm a big fan of "do whatever you like, whenever you like"... but think it's a rare woman who can pull off long hair as we age, most that I know just wear ponytails or wind it up into a bun or braids.

[OakLeaf]

I was 27 when I cut my hair from hip length to chin length. I'd just got my first white hair and I was d*mned if I was going to have any more that were three feet long. Before that, it had been 18 years since I'd had more than a trim. That was pretty intense. Going from chin length to short was more of a relief, because it was going from incredible hassle, to wash, towel, run my fingers through it and walk out the door.

[lph]

I wonder if the link between hair length and age is stronger in the US, I've never thought about it much or heard it mentioned here. Young Norwegian girls do tend to have longer hair than adult women, but I reckoned it was mostly a fashion thing among teenagers, and that they were the only ones that had the time to tend to waist-length hair :-) Certainly among young adults it's quite common to not have very long hair.

I have several friends who have cut their long hair and look gorgeous, it can be very flattering. I know it's tough to cut it, but I'm pretty sure you'll like it!

[GLC1968]

Just do it!

I'm of the belief that it is just hair. I've had mine super short, really long and everywhere in between. I've dyed it, bleached it, highlighted it, and now I'm completely natural and very white for someone who is 45 (though my underlying color is dark brown). I also wear it both ridiculously curly and super straight. Depends on my mood (and how much time I have).

I'm growing it out now but we'll see how long I can stand it. The 'in-between stage' can be rough. Right now, it's still a couple of inches from my shoulders, so I've got a long way to go before anyone can call it long even though it feels long to me. I've still got at least 6 months before I can even consider making any kind of 'tail' out of it!

Personally, I love the 'shock' of going from longer to super short. It's always such fun to me! I bet you'll get a huge kick out it once it's done. :)

[Eden]

I have curly hair and have it long right now. I'm pretty sure that as I get more white, I'm going to have to cut it or end up looking like one of the old wiches in Macbeth...... My white ones (so far) are thicker and wilder than the rest.

[ny biker]

One of my neighbors had very very long hair. I never realized it because she always had it in a bun, but apparently she had not cut it in decades. She had also never colored it. A few months ago she got it cut to shoulder length and donated the sheared-off part to Locks of Love. Now she's enjoying the different hairstyle choices that her shorter hair allows.

I've never been able to have really long hair, because mine is just thick enough to go triangular as it gets longer (like Alice in the Dilbert cartoon), and I don't want to be bothered to use an iron to thin it out. And a few years ago, when I was "growing it out" to be below chin length, I looked at some old photos and realized that even that is too long for my face. Now I keep it around 6-8 inches long, chin-length or less but not super short.

I'm actually past due for a haircut right now, but I can only make it to the salon on Saturdays, and I have long bike rides planned for every Saturday between now and the end of October. And just yesterday I saw that a very nice man in our cycling club has scheduled a 72-mile ride on the first Saturday in November to celebrate his 72nd birthday, so I'll want to do that. I may actually have to take vacation time to get a haircut on a weekday...

[Pax]

Just do it!

I'm of the belief that it is just hair. I've had mine super short, really long and everywhere in between. I've dyed it, bleached it, highlighted it, and now I'm completely natural and very white for someone who is 45 (though my underlying color is dark brown). I also wear it both ridiculously curly and super straight. Depends on my mood (and how much time I have).

I'm growing it out now but we'll see how long I can stand it. The 'in-between stage' can be rough. Right now, it's still a couple of inches from my shoulders, so I've got a long way to go before anyone can call it long even though it feels long to me. I've still got at least 6 months before I can even consider making any kind of 'tail' out of it!

Personally, I love the 'shock' of going from longer to super short. It's always such fun to me! I bet you'll get a huge kick out it once it's done. :)
Love this!

I'm growing mine out right now from about 1.5" long to maybe 3" or 4" for my nieces wedding, thought it might be nice to not have the spiky punk 'do for the pictures. :D

[shootingstar]

Dogmama, I have straight hair but lots of fine hair. In photo, just 4 yrs. younger than now: http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/about/ I did not curl my hair in that photo at all.

I had my hair cut short (from past my shoulder blades) when I was 19yrs. Short hair since then.
I'm 54 with a few more grey hairs, some lines of tiredness beneath my eyes. Definitely long hair on older women as no. 1 criteria: should still lift her visage to make her look lively. Otherwise it's not flattering to her.

What type of hair cut options are you considering? Naturally straight hair is a challenge. I tried perms for about 4 years in my 20's and gave up since it required extra care from drying out my hair, etc.

[kermit]

My hair is super thin as well and I just went to shoulder length. I just need to be able to have a ponytail. I am not a "product" person for hair. I usually wash and go but I want to recommend Nioxin shampoo. Great for thinning hair and it helped my husbands bald spot fill back in.

[Crankin]

I've had short hair for about 12 years. I have let the spikey top grow out, as I do look better with some length on the top and side bangs. I am totally indebted to my products and a flat iron for this, as I have the most horrible, frizzy, twisty, bendy, but not curly hair. Since it's short, it really doesn't take me long. So no more wash and wear, but it's worth it.
I do not think long hair is flattering at all on most people over 45, but, too each her own. I've dealt with difficult hair all of my life, and that's why I got perms for like 20 years.

[PamNY]

I hope both the bike ride and the haircut went well.

For some reason I got the desire to grow longer hair at 62. Still undecided about whether I like it.

[ACG]

I love the idea of a bike ride, to put yourself in perspective.

IMO, it is your hair and wear what makes you feel comfortable.

I had hair down to my waste until I was about 35, (I'm 52 now) then cut it to shoulder length. Have been there ever since. My hair is very wavy and when I had it short, it always felt like it looked like I rolled out of bed.

I'm on the fence on what to do with it now.

[Dogmama]

Haircut is fabulous. Went to a totally new person (gulp) but I'd seen her work on some of my friends' hair and it was very nice. She LISTENED TO ME - how nice! My last hairstylist was good but I got so tired of arguing about hair color with him. For what I was paying, he should have bowed and just done it.

She did a wedge cut on the back, slightly tapered the sides, put in low lights to calm down the blonde highlights and showed me how use some styling spray to add in texture. It is amazing how it lightened up my face. I think having longer hair dragged my face down. I have a gorgeous (not) zipper scar on my throat from my cervical fusion, so that doesn't help with the wrinkles. She said shorter hair draws the eye up. Since I don't have a lot of wrinkles around my eyes that's a good thing.

Here's the exciting part - I actually have a little bit of wave! My formerly stick straight hair must have gotten shocked from the hot flashes & started to bend a little. Of course, cutting off about 10 inches helped - but I've NEVER had wave in my hair.

Now the part comes where people see the "new me" and I'm always a little reticent about that. I hate having a fuss made over me & really prefer to just blend in. :o

[OakLeaf]

This thread is worthless without pictures. :D

[Irulan]

Haircut is fabulous. Went to a totally new person (gulp) but I'd seen her work on some of my friends' hair and it was very nice. She LISTENED TO ME - how nice! My last hairstylist was good but I got so tired of arguing about hair color with him. For what I was paying, he should have bowed and just done it.

She did a wedge cut on the back, slightly tapered the sides, put in low lights to calm down the blonde highlights and showed me how use some styling spray to add in texture. It is amazing how it lightened up my face. I think having longer hair dragged my face down. I have a gorgeous (not) zipper scar on my throat from my cervical fusion, so that doesn't help with the wrinkles. She said shorter hair draws the eye up. Since I don't have a lot of wrinkles around my eyes that's a good thing.

Here's the exciting part - I actually have a little bit of wave! My formerly stick straight hair must have gotten shocked from the hot flashes & started to bend a little. Of course, cutting off about 10 inches helped - but I've NEVER had wave in my hair.

Now the part comes where people see the "new me" and I'm always a little reticent about that. I hate having a fuss made over me & really prefer to just blend in. :o


Sounds fabulous!

on a similar note, I took the plunge for color a few months ago. I've had short hair for ....years... and it's been going a beautiful salt-and-pepper. I decided I just wasn't ready for that and went to an auburn-ish brown with purple highlights.

[PamNY]

I wonder if the link between hair length and age is stronger in the US, I've never thought about it much or heard it mentioned here. Young Norwegian girls do tend to have longer hair than adult women, but I reckoned it was mostly a fashion thing among teenagers, and that they were the only ones that had the time to tend to waist-length hair :-) Certainly among young adults it's quite common to not have very long hair.

I have several friends who have cut their long hair and look gorgeous, it can be very flattering. I know it's tough to cut it, but I'm pretty sure you'll like it!

I hadn't heard of hair length and age connection and I'm in the US. As a practical matter, my grey hairs are more curly and flyaway than the others, so now that my hair is long it looks a bit unkempt. I'm beginning to understand why older ladies often have short, curly hair styles.

[OakLeaf]

Now that I think about it, it's been a few years, but when we travelled in Austria and northern Italy, buzz cuts were very popular with women of a certain age.

[TrekDianna]

I have curly hair and have it long right now. I'm pretty sure that as I get more white, I'm going to have to cut it or end up looking like one of the old wiches in Macbeth...... My white ones (so far) are thicker and wilder than the rest.

That's me, but wavy hair almost to my waist. I have a white streak on each side. I like them. I like my hair. I even like the witches in Macbeth.

[Eden]

I imagine myself looking like this in 10 years..... if it happens, it's getting cut....
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/0/40/243658-42493-crazy-cat-lady.png

[redrhodie]

Glad you like your haircut! As I mentioned in your other hair thread, I've been through this. In my experience, your hair is going to get even better in a couple of months, when your thyroid levels out. My hair also has some wave now when it was always poker straight. My hair stylist says she's seen this happen from medicine before. She suggested that I flat iron it, and I was like, No Way! I like the curls! And my color came back. It's pretty crazy. I look back at pictures and can't believe how sick I looked before I finally got on levothyroxine.

At this point my hair is almost shoulder length and really healthy. It was to my bra strap before this journey, but I kind of like it better this length.

Good luck!

[Pax]

I love the idea of a bike ride, to put yourself in perspective.

IMO, it is your hair and wear what makes you feel comfortable.

I had hair down to my waste until I was about 35, (I'm 52 now) then cut it to shoulder length. Have been there ever since. My hair is very wavy and when I had it short, it always felt like it looked like I rolled out of bed.

I'm on the fence on what to do with it now.
I've always wanted "bed head"! But I have perfect hair (according to my friends), it's super thick and lays, well, perfectly.

Guess it's that wanting what you haven't got thing but I've always thought tousled bed head would be awesome.

[GLC1968]

I imagine myself looking like this in 10 years..... if it happens, it's getting cut....
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/0/40/243658-42493-crazy-cat-lady.png

That is kind of what I look like! (though I still have all my teeth and only one cat)

Hair products are definitely my friend. I *hated* my hair when I was a kid (before hair gel was common place) but now, a quick swipe of the right curl-encouraging product through my wet hair and I'm good to go!

[Eden]

I have two cats, but most of my teeth :p (I'm missing two molars congenitally - my mom and grandmom don't have them either)

I hated my hair as a kid too - from about the time I was a teenager it was just wild and frizzy/wavy. I had it very short for a long time. Now I've discovered the joys of no shampoo..... I have thick, dry, curly hair. I stopped using shampoo completely a couple of years ago and now just use conditioner and do a salt scrub for my scalp every week or so. Works wonders for my hair type. I use a little Uncle Harry's as leave in conditioner/gel. It's one of the only things I've been able to find with no silicone, which doesn't do much for my hair and won't wash out with just water. My white hairs that are coming in unfortunately don't appear to be curly so much as thick and kinky. I'm not sure they'll be tameable.

[GLC1968]

I do the no shampoo thing too! I've used a lot of different methods/formulas and have settled on the Co-Wash from Ouidad. It leaves my hair feeling fresh, awesome and not the least bit dry. It's not cheap though. :(

For gel, the only one I found that is 'cone' free that still has good hold without being crunchy is the Curl Quencher styling gel from Ouidad. I have the same problem in that so many 'curl' products contain silicone or dimethecone and if you don't use shampoo, that stuff builds up something awful!

[Pax]

I wsh my hair with Dr. Bronners, or Suave, or bar soap when it's short, it's all the same to my weird hair... only things that works differently is Pert (the stuff with cream rinse in it) makes my hair look like it's been washed in Crisco.

[shootingstar]

Dogmama, I was surprised to learn from a hairstylist that I had a strong top backhair cowlick at the crown of my head. I cannot get my hair to swirl properly to cover up a small bare spot when hair gets too long: another incentive why I need a haircut that has some layers. :)

Yea, sure I always wondered about naturally wavy hair to get that sexy tousled hair look ...but only wishing that for 1-2 days. Then back to liking smooth shine of straight, dark hair...which requires some precision haircuts right down to .25 millimetre and cleanliness. Specks of dust on black hair...it not becoming.